Les Moonves, chairman and CEO of CBS Corporation, poses at the premiere of the new television series "Star Trek: Discovery" in Los Angeles, on Sept. 19, 2017.Chris Pizzello / Invision / AP / Files

NEW YORK — CBS says independent members of its board of directors are investigating personal misconduct claims after reports that the company’s chief executive, Les Moonves, is the subject of a New Yorker story detailing sexual misconduct allegations.

The media company says it takes all allegations of personal misconduct seriously. It says the independent directors are “investigating claims that violate the company’s clear policies in that regard.”

CBS did not name Moonves but said it issued the statement Friday in response to the upcoming New Yorker article.

New Yorker writer Ronan Farrow says six women who accuse Moonves of sexual misconduct had to overcome their fears of retaliation in order to tell their stories.

Farrow says he spent eight months investigating the story.

Six women who had professional dealings with Moonves say he sexually harassed them between the 1980s and late 2000s. Four of them described forcible touching or kissing during business meetings.

Some of the former and current employees said that Moonves protected Fager, and that Fager, in turn protected men who reported to him and were accused of assault and harassment. This contributed, they said, to an atmosphere some found hostile: pic.twitter.com/MboToeaVSG

Farrow told The Associated Press that the story is “an opportunity to look at how our most important corporate institutions treat vulnerable people coming forward with these kinds of charges.”

Shares in CBS tumbled when the reports of the misconduct allegations began to circulate around noon Friday, as investors worried that Moonves might be forced to step down. They closed down 6 per cent, the company’s worst one-day loss in more than six years.

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